NYT chides 'Coast' gently

A New York Times style blog takes umbrage at a cover by Orange County's Coast magazine that sure borrows a lot from an earlier T Magazine cover in the NYT.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as this recent cover of Toast — I mean Coast — magazine attests. The version on the left was cooked up for the Spring 2007 cover of T Living by an all-star crew including photographer Miles Aldridge, food stylist Susan Spungen and set designer Stefan Beckman, who were asked to create their version of a beachy picnic, cocktail rings and all. (Credit also goes to the model, Anja Rubik, who was a good sport about pretending to eat for an hour.) The Californified cover on the right has all the fixings, but it is odd that a West Coast magazine would have a sadder tomato — especially since T’s shoot took place in February. Coast, if you really want to reflect Orange County’s finer lifestyle, we challenge you to recreate the Spring 2006 cover that got nixed at the last minute: a milkmaid and a dead chicken.